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On Wednesday, Lebanon signed a contract with Jordan to import energy from it through Syria, in a step that comes within the framework of official efforts to improve the reality of the country’s dilapidated electricity sector, whose reform and improving its services is one of the most important conditions for the international community to provide financial support.

Lebanon has witnessed an electricity crisis, especially since the beginning of the summer, with the rationing hours exceeding 22 hours, amid the inability of the authorities, in the midst of the economic collapse, to import fuel to operate production plants. The lifting of subsidies on importing diesel fuel, which is necessary to operate private generators, worsened the situation.

“It is an important historical moment for Lebanon (…) not in its size but in its symbolism,” Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayyad said during a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterparts, Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, and the Syrian regime’s Minister, Ghassan Al-Zamil.

He added, “Today, we are consolidating joint Arab action (…) through the modest but very important agreement for the Lebanese people, who need every hour of electricity.”

The Lebanese parliament must ratify the contract financed by the World Bank. Fayyad expected that the details of financing would be finalized within the next two months, in preparation for the contract to enter into force.

Lebanon will obtain from Jordan an energy of about 250 megawatts, which will translate into two additional hours of feeding per day.

The energy ministers of the three countries had agreed in Amman in October on a road map to supply Lebanon with part of its electricity needs.

On Wednesday, the Lebanese and Jordanian sides signed an energy supply contract, before they signed an energy transit agreement with the Syrian side.

The Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, stressed the importance of the step, which comes “in a sensitive and difficult circumstance faced by our brothers in Lebanon, which gives it additional importance.”

For his part, the Syrian Minister of Electricity, Ghassan Al-Zamil, confirmed that his country has made all arrangements for the electrical connection from Jordan to Lebanon. “We are ready at any time for the electrical connection,” he added.

For months, Lebanon has been importing fuel oil from Iraq to operate electricity production plants. He is also holding talks with Egypt to extract gas through what is known as the Arab Line, which passes through Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

By importing energy from Jordan and importing Iraqi fuel and Egyptian gas, the authorities aspire to provide between eight to ten hours of feed per day.

The electricity sector is considered the worst among the basically worn out infrastructure facilities, and has cost the state treasury more than 40 billion dollars since the end of the civil war (1975-1990).

The cost of importing electricity from Jordan is about two hundred million dollars annually, and the same applies to importing gas from Egypt.

The increase in feeding hours will coincide with the increase in the official electricity tariff, which currently stands at 0.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is one of the lowest in the world. This is one of the conditions of the World Bank.

Fayyad said last week that “the contracting method that we resort to to secure Jordanian electricity and Egyptian gas is through payment in kind, with gas and electricity in Syria, not material, which ensures that there are no negative repercussions for Caesar’s Law,” according to what Lebanon has been informed of by the US administration.

The Caesar Law, which entered into force in 2020, imposes sanctions on anyone who deals with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose country has been at war for more than a decade.